Hey there Matt… thanks for the comment bud! You’re going to have an amazing time this summer – Québec definately comes alive in a whole other way once the snow is gone. You did a great job with the interview in your link… Félicitations ! Brad.

Does anyone know why we don’t have any French-Language Canadian TV channels available on cable or satellite TV in the U.S.? Is there a law forbidding Canadian TV channels on American cable or satellite TV? I have Verizon and the only French channel offered is TV5. But for other languages, there is often more than one channel offered. Even Italian has 2 channels available on Verizon. But for our next door neighbor Canada, there are no channels offered, in English or French. So I have to wonder if there is some law preventing this? It seems unfair since you can get all the US channels on Canadian TV and Satellite. And if there is a law about U.S. programs shown in Canadian TV, why are French language channels restricted, since they no longer broadcast any American programs.

Hi Ron. That’s an interesting question. It may be a question of supply and demand (ie: would the level of demand be great enough for US cable providers to pay the high costs of devoting a very expensive and sought after cable channel devoted to Canadian French television?). Assuming cable providers expect a large return on investment to defray the significant costs of a devoted channel in a highly competitive environment, they may believe the market simply does not exist in the US compared to Italian or Spanish channels (where many people still speak such languages at home in the US). Just a guess, but something you could always ask of your cable provider, and see what explanation they provide.

There are a lot of francophone Canadians that spend the winter in Florida, for example, and many others are scattered all around the U.S. So I think there would be a market for additional French channels – or even some English channels – from Canada. My provider, Verizon, provides multiple “international” channels (as premiums) in many languages – not just Spanish and Chinese. It just seems weird that we don’t have a single Canadian channel of any kind on our cable or satellite services. I have to wonder if there is some restriction – maybe something to do with the old days when CBC and CTV broadcast a lot of American TV series? But why the restriction on french-language TV from Canada too? I’ve gotten no replies from Verizon on this subject. It is next to impossible to speak to real live person at Verizon, unless it is tech support from India. And no one replied to my questions on their blog. So maybe you can ask someone on your end, why there is no Canadian TV “allowed” on U.S. cable? I don’t think it is just a perceived “lack of demand”.